Scan barcode
A review by whatathymeitwas
The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I'm going to be honest, by the time I was about halfway through this, I was irritated and thought I would hate it by the end. I've maybe never had a book so suddenly change my thoughts on it as this one.
The blurb is very correct. Initially, you think you know what's going on here. Then a couple more times you maybe shift that around some and have an AH-HA! moment, and you think about the blurb, and you tell yourself oh boy they almost got me there. And that's when it changes on you again and you realize you did not in fact have a clue.
It was the second or third little shift that made me think I'd hate this. I had a terrible feeling it was going in a direction that was shocking for the sake of being shocking, and for whatever reason it made me angry. I'm not sure why, because this book is very well written, well fleshed out, with really lifelike characters for the most part. I guess maybe that was the issue, I couldn't reconcile why in the middle of all that, suddenly it would be taking a hard left turn into shock territory somewhat unnecessarily.
I'm happy to say that didn't happen, and I was shook by the time I realized what was really going on and how things linked together, in ways I was completely misled from considering. Color me surprised.
This book is so much more than I thought it was at that point, and it's completely different than what I expected at any point other than the very end. Definitely looking forward to Sundial now.
The blurb is very correct. Initially, you think you know what's going on here. Then a couple more times you maybe shift that around some and have an AH-HA! moment, and you think about the blurb, and you tell yourself oh boy they almost got me there. And that's when it changes on you again and you realize you did not in fact have a clue.
It was the second or third little shift that made me think I'd hate this. I had a terrible feeling it was going in a direction that was shocking for the sake of being shocking, and for whatever reason it made me angry. I'm not sure why, because this book is very well written, well fleshed out, with really lifelike characters for the most part. I guess maybe that was the issue, I couldn't reconcile why in the middle of all that, suddenly it would be taking a hard left turn into shock territory somewhat unnecessarily.
I'm happy to say that didn't happen, and I was shook by the time I realized what was really going on and how things linked together, in ways I was completely misled from considering. Color me surprised.
This book is so much more than I thought it was at that point, and it's completely different than what I expected at any point other than the very end. Definitely looking forward to Sundial now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Stalking, Body horror, Child death, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Confinement, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, and Grief